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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30073299">A lucky meeting</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBigWingsOfFantasy/pseuds/TheBigWingsOfFantasy'>TheBigWingsOfFantasy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lin-Manuel Miranda - Fandom, Mary Poppins (Movies), Mary Poppins Returns - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Jack is gentleman, Love at First Sight, Mention of abuse, Slow Burn, might become smut, multi-chapter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:07:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,015</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30073299</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBigWingsOfFantasy/pseuds/TheBigWingsOfFantasy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A casual meeting in a dark street with a charming lamplighter makes the reader question everything she knew and will help her broken heart to heal and love again.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jack the Leerie/Reader, Jack the lamplighter/reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A lucky meeting</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello hello hello, here it is the first chapter of a new story involving our favorite leerie. I honestly have no idea of when the second chapter will come out and this chapter also ends in a sort of "cliffhanger", nothing too big in my opinion but if you want closure then I guess this isn't the right time.<br/>I hope you'll enjoy it!</p><p>TRIGGER WARNING: AT THE VERY BEGINNING THERE IS A DESCRIPTION OF A WOMAN BEIGN CHASED BY A MAN, IT'S LITERALLY A COUPLE LINES LONG</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The echo of your shoes on the paved road and your raggedy breath were the only sounds on the empty dark street. Your lungs were on fire for the long run and your eyes were filled with tears for the fatigue, but you couldn’t stop yet, you weren't safe yet.<br/>
You turned around to see if the man chasing you was still there, that was when you tripped and banged your chin on the unforgiving pavement. You had to get back up, you had to run again or it would have been the end of you, but you just couldn’t convince your legs to work, so you praied that the man was far gone now, as you tried to catch your breath feeling the taste of blood in your mouth.</p><p><br/>
You felt a slight nudge on your shoulder and you froze, trying to hold your breath and pretending to be unconscious, hoping that you will be left alone.</p><p><br/>
“Miss? Are you alright miss? “</p><p><br/>
The voice you heard wasn’t the one of your chaser. It seemed kind and full of concern, but you knew better to not trust a stranger. A cover isn't a book.<br/>
After being tricked many times by apparently good men, you learnt to not trust anyone. The reason why you were laying on the ground right now was pretty eloquent on why that was a stupid idea. </p><p><br/>
“Miss? Are you hurt?” the kind voice said, nudging on your shoulder once again. </p><p><br/>
You gained a little bit of strength and you hoped that would have been enough to run away if the situation worsened, so you turned your head around to meet the owner of the voice. <br/>
The man was kneeling next to you under a lamplight and the light reminded you of a halo around his head.</p><p>It took you a moment to take in the features of his face: he seemed to be fairly young, probably around his thirties, he sported a slight stubble and overall he looked as kind as his voice. You hated to admit that to yourself, but he was kind of cute. <br/>
“Hello miss, is everything alright?” he asked tilting his head. He was definitely a stubborn man, any other person would have just walked away or taken advantage of you, but this man didn’t look like any other.</p><p><br/>
You got up on your knees, slightly hurting from your fall “Yeah, I’m alright” you said sarcastically.<br/>
The man giggled a little at your comment. He got up on his feet and handed out his hands to you “You need help getting up?”<br/>
“No thanks I can manage that myself” you said with confidence. Way too much confidence, because as soon as you stood up your legs gave out and you would have fallen again if that stranger didn’t catch you in time.</p><p><br/>
“Gotcha!” he said smiling kindly. That was a really sweet smile, you couldn’t deny it.<br/>
“Thanks” you mumbled, feeling a little annoyed about the help.<br/>
“You are welcome, miss”<br/>
“Stop calling me miss, nobody calls me like that” you sourly said. <br/>
“Then what is your name?”<br/>
“Y/N” you mumbled<br/>
“Is a very lovely name” the stranger said.</p><p>It was weird because he said it like he really meant it and not just to be polite. You definetly haven’t met anyone like him before, but you still tried to keep up a thug appearance. </p><p><br/>
“My name’s Jack, I’m a lamplighter” he said with a radiant smile. You knew about the lamplighters, you often saw them going around at night, they would gather up once their shift was over and share a pint or two, singing and speaking in their own weird language (to be honest, you believed they were simply too drunk to remember English), but they seemed to be a very cheerful group. </p><p><br/>
You realized that you were still standing between Jack’s arms. You reluctantly let go, feeling all of the sudden way too much cold without him, but trying to hide it<br/>
“Thank you for your help, Jack, I think that I can handle myself now” you said, hoping that would make it true. <br/>
Jack’s face got immediately serious. He reached out a hand towards your face and you jumped straight away, worried by his sudden motion. Could it be that you were fooled once again by the kindness of a stranger? <br/>
Jack tried to get closer but soon realized his mistake “I’m sorry” he said “I didn’t mean to scare you, I just noticed that your chin was bleeding”. <br/>
You touched your chin and it was, in fact, bleeding. Jack produced a clothed tissue from one of his pocket “May I? “ he asked politely. </p><p><br/>
You went closer to him under the light. Normally you would have never trusted someone like this, but Jack had plenty of ways to hurt you and never did anything. You were still on the edge, catching any worrying signs, but you didn’t felt as scared as before “Thank you… “ you mumbled. <br/>
“Tell me if it hurts” Jack said, tilting your head up delicately with one hand. Under the light, you could see his face better and you were struck by his deep brown eyes. They were probably the most beautiful pair of eyes you’d ever seen, it was like swimming inside warm cocoa, such a piercing yet calming gaze that made it impossible to look away. </p><p><br/>
Jack was very delicate as he lightly tapped your chin, whenever you flinched in pain he would stroke your cheek tightly with his thumb, gently shushing you down.<br/>
You didn’t know what to do, your feelings towards this man were very conflicted: on one side you wanted to believe that, as strange as it was, Jack was actually very sweet and kind. You knew that he was already stuck in your heart and for how hard you could try, you would have never forgotten him.</p><p><br/>
But your most reasonable part was still trying to warn you to not give all of this confidence to a stranger, your experience recounted to you of all the times you had faith in someone and those people crushed it. You weren’t ready to trust anyone so quickly ever again, but could Jack be the only exception? You weren’t ready to find out.</p><p><br/>
“There you are, you are good as new” Jack said with a huge smile. You noticed that his hand lingered a second too longer on your cheek, but maybe you were just overthinking about it. You thanked him and were about to say goodbye to him, when Jack stopped you immediately “You can’t go home alone at night, it might be dangerous”. You thought about the man chasing you and realized how lucky you have been to escape him.</p><p><br/>
“So you offer to protect me from the darkness, Mr. lamplighter?” you asked sarcastically cocking an eyebrow “Don’t be offended but as far as I know, you could be a scoundrel yourself and I highly doubt you could beat someone in a fight”.</p><p><br/>
Jack snorted at your commentary “I guess that if I look as weak as you say you’ll have no problem escaping me. But I can assure you that I’m not that kind of person. Plus I have a bike, I could get you home faster” he said pointing at it.<br/>
“It looks pretty unstable to me, is that how you hurt your victim? You let them fall off your bike? “you asked. That made him laugh and you felt your insides dancing along that warm music.<br/>
You had no idea where this was going to end, but you were enjoying this little flirting and secretly hoped Jack felt the same way.</p><p><br/>
“C’mon now, nobody ever fell off my bike, I promise you” Jack said handing out his hand for you to take it.<br/>
You gladly accepted it, the thrill of the unknown running down your spine. You sat right in front of him, Jack’s arms close to yours, as he leaned over you to give himself a push and start riding.</p><p><br/>
It was nice to be held in this half embrace, you felt Jack’s warmth on your back and his breath on your neck, but most importantly, you felt safe for the very first time in a while.</p><p><br/>
“Where are we going miss?” Jack asked, his lips close to your ear. You were grateful to be looking away from him because otherwise, he would have seen you blushing.<br/>
A thought occurred into your mind: you couldn’t tell him where you lived, what if he changed his mind after he discovered the truth? What if you’d never seen him again?<br/>
“Y/N? Is everything alright?” Jack said, worried about your silence. You turned your head slightly to look at him and as he looked down at you, your lips were close. This small moment of distraction was fatal since one of the wheels of the bike ran into a branch in the middle of the street and you both fell down. </p><p><br/>
Jack hold you tight to his chest to prevent you from hitting the ground and landed on his back with you on top of him, everything happened so fast and it took you a while to realize how inappropriate the situation was.<br/>
Jack was hissing in pain under you, he had probably hit his head, you tried to turn around but then you noticed that in the midst of the fall he grabbed you on your chest. Jack stopped his complaining and retracted his hand immediately, allowing you to roll next to him as your cheeks grew redder and he repeatedly said how sorry he was.</p><p><br/>
“Jack are you alright?” you asked as you reached for him, trying to calm him down.<br/>
“Yeah, I’m alright” He said massaging his head “Actually i think that I might be bleeding a little”. <br/>
You turned around him and checked the back of his head, thankfully there was no trace of blood there <br/>
“Oh Jack, I’m incredibly sorry…”<br/>
“Nothing to be sorry about,  it was my fault” he said turning his head to face you. Very closer to you, once again.</p><p> <br/>
You were drawn by that dark pair of eyes once again but rapidly averted his gaze as you felt a slight blush appearing on your cheeks once again. You got up and offered Jack a hand to help him on his feet.</p><p><br/>
“His hands are so warm” you thought before scolding you once again. What was up with you and this handsome lamplighter, for God’s sake? </p><p><br/>
You looked down at his bike and noticed that one of the tires was slashed. It really wasn't a lucky night for none of you two.<br/>
Jack was kneeling down to examine his bike, worry on his face. You felt so sorry for what happened, he was just trying to help you and now his bike was broken, you needed to help him and made up for it, the least you could do was offering a place to sleep.</p><p><br/>
“Look Jack” you whispered getting closer to him as he looked up at you “my house isn’t far from here, you can sleep at my place if-“<br/>
He jumped up and interrupted you “No, no, no absolutely not. Miss I can’t abuse of your kindness, it wouldn’t be fair and I-"</p><p><br/>
You took his hands and looked at him straight in the eyes “Please Jack, you can’t come back home this late and you are injured. You will get some sleep and I’ll help you fix your bike tomorrow”<br/>
You held his hands tighter and searched for his eyes in the dark “You helped me before, let me return the favor”. <br/>
Jack looked away and untangled from your hands, you thought you saw a small blush on his cheek. Oh God if he was cute. </p><p><br/>
“It wouldn’t be very appropriate” he said looking down at his bike "we don't really know each other..." <br/>
You sourly smiled “That won’t be a problem…”<br/>
“What do you mean?” he said tilting his head <br/>
You took a deep breath, ready for the worse. <br/>
“I live in a brothel…  and I work there too”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey, I hope you liked the story! As I said at the beginning I have no idea when I will be able to write a second chapter but thank you for reading this far!<br/>Feel free to leave kudos, comments, or suggestion on what you'll like to read from me</p></blockquote></div></div>
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